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Gamma and the Chemical Reaction Model: Fifteen Years After

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Multiset Processing (WMC 2000)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2235))

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Abstract

Gamma was originally proposed in 1986 as a formalism for the definition of programs without artificial sequentiality. The basic idea underlying the formalism is to describe computation as a form of chemical reaction on a collection of individual pieces of data. Due to the very minimal nature of the language, and its absence of sequential bias, it has been possible to exploit this initial paradigm in various directions. This paper reviews most of the work around Gamma considered as a programming or as a specification language. A special emphasis is placed on unexpected applications of the chemical reaction model, showing that this paradigm has been a source of inspiration in various research areas.

This paper is a revised version of Gamma and the chemical reaction model: ten years after [10]. It has been reorganized and includes additional sections on applications of the chemical reaction model. Sections presenting large examples, extensions of the formalism and implementations issues have been seriously shortened. The reader is referred to [10] and the original papers for further details on these topics.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universit’e de Rennes I, Campus de Beaulieu, 35042, Rennes, France

    Jean-Pierre Banătre

  2. Inria / Irisa, Campus de Beaulieu, 35042, Rennes, France

    Pascal Fradet

  3. Trusted Logic S.A. 5, rue du Bailliage, 78000, Versailles, France

    Daniel Le Métayer

Authors
  1. Jean-Pierre Banătre
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  2. Pascal Fradet
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  3. Daniel Le Métayer
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science, University of Auckland, Auckland

    Cristian S. Calude

  2. Institute of Mathematics of the Romanian Academy, Romanian

    Gheorghe PĂun

  3. Leiden Institute for Advanced Computer Science, Leiden University, Leiden

    Grzegorz Rozenberg

  4. Turku Center for Computer Science, TUCS, Turku

    Arto Salomaa

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© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Banătre, JP., Fradet, P., Le Métayer, D. (2001). Gamma and the Chemical Reaction Model: Fifteen Years After. In: Calude, C.S., PĂun, G., Rozenberg, G., Salomaa, A. (eds) Multiset Processing. WMC 2000. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2235. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45523-X_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45523-X_2

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-43063-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45523-3

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